HIGHLIGHTS

Notorious criminal Santosh Jha was shot dead in a shootout on Bihar's Sitamarhi civil court premises on Tuesday. Jha was brought in to be produced in connection with a case.

While he was being taken inside the court, three motorcycle-borne assailants opened fire at him and escaped. Jha was immediately rushed to the hospital where he was declared brought dead. A court employee was also injured.

The police have arrested one of the killers.

Santosh Jha, who was shot in the head and chest was a dreaded gangster against whom there were more than three dozen cases pertaining to murders, kidnappings and extortions going on in various courts in Sheohar, Sitamarhi and Darbhanga of Bihar.

KILLING OF ENGINEERS

He was the mastermind behind the killing of two engineers in Darbhanga in December 2015. Santosh Jha's shooters had gunned down the engineers involved in road construction using AK-47.

In March this year, the notorious gangster was convicted in the engineers' murder case and was serving a life sentence.

The court had convicted Jha and nine other accused in this case and sentenced them to life imprisonment. Four accused in this case were also acquitted due to lack of evidence.

CASE OF REVENGE OR RIVALRY?

Sitamarhi SP Vikas Burman said that one person who has been arrested in the shootout case has been identified as Vikas Kumar.

According to the police, the accused has confessed to the crime and claimed that he had taken revenge for his father's death who was killed by Santosh Jha's gang in Motihari a few years ago.

The police are also exploring an angle of personal rivalry as Santosh Jha's one-time close aide Mukesh Pathak reigned terror in the Mithilanchal region. Recently, Pathak had parted ways with him owing to a dispute.

Meanwhile, the police have launched a massive manhunt to apprehend the killers who are still at large. All the borders of Sitamarhi district have been sealed that it shares with Nepal.

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